11/10/2010

UK government ties work directly to welfare benefits

The government unveiled a radical shake-up of the welfare state Thursday, saying it would withhold benefit payments for up to three years from those who refuse to take jobs.Prime Minister David Cameron's government wants to introduce a sliding scale of penalties for those who either decline a job offer, fail to apply for a job they are advised to or do not turn up for mandatory four-week work placements.The weekly 65 pound unemployment benefit will be withheld for three months from those who violate any of the three conditions.That would rise to six months for a second violation and three years for a third, aides said.The announcement came as Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith prepared to give details of the universal credit, a single welfare payment which officials say will simplify the current complex benefits system and make two and a half million people better off.Cameron's coalition government, which took power in May, describes the plans as the most radical since the wide-ranging welfare state was put in place just after World War II.Welfare now accounts for roughly a third of government spending. . . .